Customer (non)Service

About a week before our move, I called the local cable company, Charter Communications, and arranged to have cable internet connected a few days after our arrival. I was disappointed that our previous provider, Time Warner, didn't service this area and that we were going to have to essentially pay more for less with this new company. But when it comes to cable, you take what's available. So I made the call.

However, after the moving expenses piled up (as they do), we decided it best to hold off on the cable for awhile. So, on the day the service was to be installed (the first business day after our arrival), I called Charter to request the technician not come. The woman I spoke with said that the technician was already on his route and that he couldn't be reached, so we would just have to be there when he arrived to, basically, send him away.

I did that. I met him at our gate and apologetically told him we'd decided against installing the service. He was very gracious about it.

A few days ago, during dinner, I got a call from someone at Charter wanting to know how we were enjoying our service. That's a good, classy thing to do. Only I didn't have the service, and told the caller as much. They apologized, and I went on with my dinner.

But then yesterday the bill arrived. It's a bill for the full installation and one month's service. So now I've just got off the phone with Charter, after being transferred to three different people, and they have to send out a technician to verify that I in fact do not have the service they say I have. I have to be here on a certain day at a certain time for that technician, else I'm still on the hook for the bill.

It's a good lesson in how not to treat non-customers.